Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service

This is a discussion on Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service within Street Experiences, part of the Buckle Up category; Originally Posted by Perakath
"Being Uber means there's no need to tip," says the FAQ.
Yes. The driver didnt expect ...

1. In Delhi, Uber earlier showed house addresses overlay on its google maps. Hence, when I selected my location, the complete house address will go to the driver picking me up. Unfortunately, the house numbers are now gone since last couple of months.

Since only MapMyIndia has house numbers data in Delhi / NCR, I am assuming Uber's contract with them for house numbers terminated for some reason. To confirm, I would have asked if anybody on the forum is from Uber, but I've heard they are a very small (but efficient) team here in India.

2. On my last Uber experience, my Uber Corolla Altis driver seemed to stop at a CNG station enroute the Airport. I called him and asked him whether he has stopped for a refill. He sounded surprised and hesitatingly said that he's on his way and the traffic is bad. Too bad, because I could check on my google maps that there was no traffic on the road. Without the knowledge of Uber's tracking feature and that traffic information is available on google maps, he would've been totally baffled with the accuracy of my comments :P .

Recently booked a Mega Cabs cab from home to the airport. They've been advertising that you can take a cab from anywhere in Bangalore to the airport for 699.

First time I tried it said there were no cabs in my area. Called Customer care and they told me there was a quota system which must have been exhausted.

Tried again for another trip and this time I made the reservation successfully. When I finally reached the airport, I was billed 1133. When I told the driver that this was supposed to be 699, he promptly says those were different cabs, Indicas!! Didn't make sense arguing with him and spoiling my mood so just went on in after paying 1133.

Online cab booking service Olacabs has raised Rs 250 crore in an investment round led by Steadview Capital and Sequoia Capital with participation from existing investors Tiger Global and Matrix Partners, reports The Times of India.

Olacabs co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal told the publication that they intend to use the investment raised to expand to new cities and categories and strengthen its driver ecosystem in the country. Update: Aggarwal has informed that they hope to be present in atleast 20 cities by the end of this year. They are also earmarking Rs 100 crores towards nurturing their driver ecosystem over the next one year.

Finally tried Uber. I'm used to seeing 'no cars available' at my home location (both X and black) , but found one black around 25 mins away and booked it. It was around 10km away and thanks to the friday evening bangalore traffic, took around 45 mins to reach. It was a well maintained innova, neat and clean and smelled good too. The driver was a bit pissed initially and was ranting on the phone that he had driven a total of 80km that day to pick up people and the total drives after the pick up were less than 60km. Calmed down soon and later we got to talking and realized he was from my state and then we had a good conversation all the way till the drop off point. Traffic was nasty, stagnant at a lot of places and I felt like the the cost for the time would exceed the cost for the distance covered but thankfully it didn't. The drop off felt as if a friend had dropped me off as all we said were thanks and bye and there was no talk about money. (The less awkward way of looking at it). The fare was 440 which worked out to be free, thanks to some coupon I had.

Didn't understand why they charge for the time. Can't see any advantage for the user.

Quote:

Originally Posted by salunkhe.vizz

In Ola, there is no need to give "drop" location and get rejected by drivers who do not want to ply that side

I tried Uber in Mumbai recently from Airport. I got a car quite easily in 10mins and he was ontime to pick me up.

Car was a Honda Accord that had done close to 1.5L kms. Unfortunately it felt the part. On the outside it was not clean but I didn't bother since it was pouring.

Stepped inside it was extremely tattered. Sun visor on passenger side was ripped out with vanity mirror light wire hanging, the drivers door had red pan stains, all leather seats were properly worn out with cracks and torn in couple of places. The engine was smooth but rear suspension and somethings in boot were rattling away. The steering was at 90 degree angle to keep the car going straight. Plastic door handles were worn from silver to black.

I gave a 3 star rating at the end of the journey with my feedback on extremely old, poorly maintained car. This is Uber black which is supposedly premium cars. The Tab cab Etios felt better when I took one the next day. Not expected considering the 200 bucks premium I paid over Tab cab the next day.

Looks like Uber is using decommissioned cars from travel agents. My dad used an Altis in Mumbai the week before and he said that too was in similar condition. He said it was same as Altis we have but was making so any sounds from suspension.

I used Uber last night from Bbay international airport to home (Parel). It cost me about 688 after paying surge rate that did a 1.5x on the billing. I'm still fine because normally the hired car I pre-book works out to about 1200 - 1300 range for a Dzire.

Here I got a neat and clean BMW 3 series for about half the price. Works for me. Even though office picks up this cost, I think paying half the price for a better car just makes sense. If for any reason I don't get the car I can always take a regular Meru type car.

Car came inside 15 mins and worked perfectly. I still wouldn't risk it for an airport drop though - too unpredictable.

Spoke at length with the driver and they seem extremely happy with the amount of monthly billing they're generating through this.

On a related matter, I have a billing related question (see attached picture):

Can anyone explain the attached bill to me? Do they charge on the basis of both 'distance' AND 'time'? Or is it 'distance' OR 'time', whichever is higher? I was under the impression it would be the higher of the two but the attached bill seems to suggest its BOTH distance and time, and that too added on top of the base fare of Rs. 100.

On a related matter, I have a billing related question (see attached picture):

Can anyone explain the attached bill to me? Do they charge on the basis of both 'distance' AND 'time'? Or is it 'distance' OR 'time', whichever is higher? I was under the impression it would be the higher of the two but the attached bill seems to suggest its BOTH distance and time, and that too added on top of the base fare of Rs. 100.

Can anyone explain please?

Thanks

It is both distance + time. Unlike other cabs which only charge waiting time car is stationary, Uber charges every minute of your trip @ Rs.2. Plus the per km rate.

The base rate took me for surprise. I was under the impression that minimum fare was Rs.100 and if over that you would not be charged this. But it looks like the total fare is Base fare (100) + distance + time.

The base rate took me for surprise. I was under the impression that minimum fare was Rs.100 and if over that you would not be charged this. But it looks like the total fare is Base fare (100) + distance + time.

You're right. That's another aspect I misunderstood too. I also thought Base Fare is min guarantee and would get subsumed in the bill. But its Base + Dist + Time aggregated.

In that sense I think it is a somewhat expensive alternative to Meru type cars for Pt A to Pt B travel within the city. But when it comes to airport returns etc it works particularly well because all sorts of alternative options charge you airport fees / premiums etc and are net net around the same price if not more expensive.

My takeway: for a senior'ish executive within an organisation it is a good option to use for company related travel. But that's of course you're not on the road all day going from one meeting to another back to back with no time to waste in between.

It takes two to tango and just three to run the city-wide operations at taxi-hailing app Uber, one of the world's fastest-growing startups. The San Francisco-based company employs just three people in every city when it launches operations — that is less than the number of people their typical taxi can accommodate.

The company typically employs a general manager who is responsible for strategy, a community marketing manager and a head of operations who manages relationships with the taxi drivers signing up.

Used Uber for the first time today as it was pouring rain all over Pune and I did not want to get wet while going to office (I commute on a bike). ETA was 11 mins when I booked it, promptly got a call from the driver and he was at my place in 15 mins. Had a discount coupon with me so my overall 55 min & 28 km ride cost me only 117 bucks

Overall service was good, driver was courteous and the car was clean (Toyota Innova). Looking forward to using them again sometime.

I really wanted to try out Ola cabs, but the last 4 times I've fired up their App, they just don't have cabs available!! Wonder where that 250 crore investment has gone

All home cars were out, thus I called for an Uber today. Spic & span Innova with captain seats arrived in 15 minutes. After reaching the destination, I told the driver I had over an hour of work. He said he'll wait and promptly ended the current trip. An hour & fifteen minutes later I call him and sure enough, he's waiting right there. Came home in the same clean cab.

Because he waited, the experience was just like having taken my own car + driver.

I really wanted to try out Ola cabs, but the last 4 times I've fired up their App, they just don't have cabs available!! Wonder where that 250 crore investment has gone

All home cars were out, thus I called for an Uber today. Spic & span Innova with captain seats arrived in 15 minutes. After reaching the destination, I told the driver I had over an hour of work. He said he'll wait and promptly ended the current trip. An hour & fifteen minutes later I call him and sure enough, he's waiting right there. Came home in the same clean cab.

Because he waited, the experience was just like having taken my own car + driver.

Ola is pure misery in mumbai.i once hired it for a borvli kalyan trip,halfway through the chauffeur says he doesnt have diesel,and neither does he have money apparently!How convenient.What if the passenger doesnt have cash then?I gave him 400rs and as luck would have it after alighting paid up the entire meter amount completely forgetting that I had paid for the fuel which should have been deducted.The sly chauffeur bugger never ever mentioned it either,he quietly pockets the entire amount and drives away ever so quickly.I only realised after reaching Hyd that I was had,I should have been alert but that doesnt absolve the chauffeur.And as for their mobile app,it never ever shows vehicles available and if you cancel
via their app it still continues to show up as active booking.Did they really get the investment?or where did all that investment go I wonder!